Does Incredible run Moto Droid apps, particularly games?

[xorg]

I'm thinking of switching to Android from Pre. Am concerned about the fragmentation. I've heard games designed for Moto Droid (gameloft in particular) don't work on other Android phones.

What's the scoop? If Moto Droid apps run on HTC Incredible, are the chances high they would also run on EVO?

The OS fragmentation is the main concern I have.

 

[Adiliyo]

the moto droid apps should all work as most apps are basically looking for a specific version of the OS, and since the inc and droid are both running 2.1 it should be fine.

 

[Dapke36]

Keep in mind, though, that the reverse may not be true. You might be able to run all apps, but someone on a Droid cannot run HTC-branded/built apps.

 

[xorg]

I heard that some Gameloft games (designed for Moto Droid) do not run well on Nexus One even though 2.1 and faster CPU, which is why I wonder if this could be an issue for Incredible/Evo.

 

[Adiliyo]

when i get mine on thursday, i'll let you know

 

[MannyZ28]

I heard that some Gameloft games (designed for Moto Droid) do not run well on Nexus One even though 2.1 and faster CPU, which is why I wonder if this could be an issue for Incredible/Evo.

The reason for that is that the Pre, the Droid, and the iPhone all use a similar graphics chip of the Power VR variety. Snapdragon phones use the AMD Z340 I believe. Gameloft first started writing all those fancy 3d games for the iPhone, and then they were ported to the Palm Pre, and later to the Droid. Because of this, the code doesn't seem to be optimized for Snapdragon equipped phones. Gameloft takes a bit of a lazy route (understandably) and is just doing direct ports. Also, another thing to consider is that the Pre and the iPhone both use 320 x 480 resolution. I have not seen Asphalt 5 (most popular game for all 3 platforms from Gameloft) actually run on a Droid, so I am not sure if the game runs in native resolution (which is oddball to begin with 480 x 854 instead of 480 x 800) or if it runs at 320 x 480.

Either way, I have high hopes that the popularity of the Snapdragon platform will make 3d game designers optimize the games for it.

I have yet to find a technical review of just the 3d chips in both platforms to see which really is faster or more suited to games.

 

[Adiliyo]

The reason for that is that the Pre, the Droid, and the iPhone all use a similar graphics chip of the Power VR variety. Snapdragon phones use the AMD Z340 I believe. Gameloft first started writing all those fancy 3d games for the iPhone, and then they were ported to the Palm Pre, and later to the Droid. Because of this, the code doesn't seem to be optimized for Snapdragon equipped phones. Gameloft takes a bit of a lazy route (understandably) and is just doing direct ports. Also, another thing to consider is that the Pre and the iPhone both use 320 x 480 resolution. I have not seen Asphalt 5 (most popular game for all 3 platforms from Gameloft) actually run on a Droid, so I am not sure if the game runs in native resolution (which is oddball to begin with 480 x 854 instead of 480 x 800) or if it runs at 320 x 480.

Either way, I have high hopes that the popularity of the Snapdragon platform will make 3d game designers optimize the games for it.

I have yet to find a technical review of just the 3d chips in both platforms to see which really is faster or more suited to games.

this was my guess as to why they run worse on the N1 compared to the droid.

gameloft is just being lazy. but with the popularity of manuf using snapdragon in anything they can fit it into they're going to have to optimize for it at some point

 

[MannyZ28]

I was doing some research on the interwebs and stumbled upon this....

Current Mobile GPUs: Triangles/sec, Fill Rate

PowerVR MBX-Lite (iPhone 3G): 1 M triangles/s, 100 M pixels/s
Samsung S3C6410 (Omnia II): 4 M triangles/s, 125.6 M pixels/s
PowerVR SGX 520 (Palm Pre): 14 M triangles/s, ___ M pixels/s
ATI Imageon Z430 (Toshiba TG01): 22 M triangles/s, 133 M pixels/s
PowerVR SGX 535 (iPhone 3GS): 28 M triangles/s, 400 M pixels/s

Future Mobile GPUs:

PowerVR SGX 540 (TI OMAP4): 35 M triangles/s, 1000 M pixels/s
Nvidia Tegra APX2500 (Zune HD): 40 M triangles/s, 600 M pixels/s
ATI Imageon _ (Qualcomm QSD8672): 80 M triangles/s, >500 M pixels/s

As a side-note, this means the iPhone 3GS' graphic chip may very well be faster than the Toshiba TG01's first-gen (QSD8250) Snapdragon. The next Snapdragon (QSD8672, the dual-core 45nm model in the new Smartbooks) has the latest GPU from the former ATI Imageon team (now part of Qualcomm), which demolishes the PowerVRs and Tegra. Unfortunately it probably won't be hitting phones for a while, so looks iPhone 3GS is top dog for now. Tegra's GPU is fast, but its slow ARM11 CPU will hold it back in general performance.

So there you go, the iPhone version is faster than the Pre version, and the Z430 (which I mistakenly called Z340) is in the middle.

 

[xorg]

^Thanks for the explanation. Hopefully Snapdragon development will occur but it's a disturbing indication that fragmentation is a real issue for Android.

Google needs to come up with a more comprehensive hardware abstract layer for drivers and graphics library like DirectX so that developers don't need to develop for specific hardware.

 

[darreno1]

If I'm not mistaken I believe the Samsung Galaxy S currently has the fastest 3d chip being able to render 90 million triangles per second. Not sure what chip it's using though. The 3gs is old news.


Found a link:

Galaxy S Flies With Hummingbird Graphics Processor | Android Phone Fans

 

[swagner]

One of the other challenges for games in terms of fragmentation is the keyboard/dpad/trackball issue. Some have hardware keyboards, some trackpads, some trackballs, some only virtual.

 

[xorg]

^Developers would have to manage input methods just as they would for various Windows controllers vs. keyboard. But they should only have to code for generic 'keypad', 'joystick', 'd-pad; or 'virtual pad'. They shouldn't have to code for 'Moto Droid keypad', 'Samsung d-pad', etc.

Developers shouldn't have to code for specific hardware. Google needs to resolve that through more robust hardware abstract layers (HAL). Should be a high priority for the next Android release otherwise Android will become just a framework rather than an OS. Each hardware maker will accidentally end up with independent proprietary OSs based on Android framework if you get my drift. It's heading that direction now... Google needs to harness this issue really quick.

 

[hkklife]

You have to watch out for Gameloft. They put the bottom line first and customers last.

I had several issues with them years ago when I bought a number of games for them for Palm OS 4.0 and then again for 5.0 shortly after the the Tungsten T was released (this was in 2003 or so). I upgraded to a T|T3 a few months alter and due to Palm's remapping of the hard button scheme, none of those Gameloft games would run properly. Then when I went to the T5 with NVFS, those titles wouldn't run at all. Gameloft eventually dropped Palm OS support entirely and I couldn't even get a new reg code for my new Hotsync ID for all of the titles I had bought from them.

 

[Adiliyo]

^Developers would have to manage input methods just as they would for various Windows controllers vs. keyboard. But they should only have to code for generic 'keypad', 'joystick', 'd-pad; or 'virtual pad'. They shouldn't have to code for 'Moto Droid keypad', 'Samsung d-pad', etc.

Developers shouldn't have to code for specific hardware. Google needs to resolve that through more robust hardware abstract layers (HAL). Should be a high priority for the next Android release otherwise Android will become just a framework rather than an OS. Each hardware maker will accidentally end up with independent proprietary OSs based on Android framework if you get my drift. It's heading that direction now... Google needs to harness this issue really quick.

exactly.

i wish google would take a more hands on approach to their OS, open source or not.

 

[xorg]

Another oddity is that Verizon is marketing the Droid name across hardware makers (Moto/HTC) yet many apps will likely not be compatible. Hopefully it's not as big of an issue as it appears to the general consumer but without robust HAL, it is a real issue.

Google will have to resolve this, not the open source community. Each hardware maker will take this into their own independent direction if Google doesn't get a handle on this.

 

[Adiliyo]

for the normal end user, they won't see the results of the fragmentation since the market will not show apps that don't work.

plus there hasn't been any ads for apps (that i've seen) that won't work on a 1.5+ handset

 

[xorg]

So now that it's out, are Moto Droid users finding their apps run on Incredible?

 

[xorg]

So now that it's out, are Moto Droid users finding their apps run on Incredible?

So are there no Moto Droid users who switched to Incredible?

 

[trebores]

I pulled the trigger and bought a few of the gameloft games to try on the incredible. NOVA works and runs fine! Tom Clancy's HAWX does not work (crashes sense) Dungeon Hunter does not work (crashes out to sense)